The present invention relates to wafer processing apparatus, to temperature measurement and control systems for use in such processing apparatus, and to methods of in-situ temperature measurement and control.
Many semiconductor devices are formed by processes performed on a substrate. The substrate typically is a slab of a crystalline material, commonly referred to as a “wafer.” Typically, a wafer is formed by growing a large crystal and slicing the crystal into the shape of a disc. One common process performed on such a wafer is epitaxial growth.
For example, devices formed from compound semiconductors such as III-V semiconductors typically are formed by growing successive layers of the compound semiconductor using metal organic chemical vapor deposition or “MOCVD.” In this process, the wafers are exposed to a combination of gases, typically including a metal organic compound as a source of a group III metal, and also including a source of a group V element which flow over the surface of the wafer while the wafer is maintained at an elevated temperature. Typically, the metal organic compound and group V source are combined with a carrier gas which does not participate appreciably in the reaction as, for example, nitrogen. One example of a III-V semiconductor is gallium nitride, which can be formed by reaction of an organo gallium compound and ammonia on a substrate having a suitable crystal lattice spacing, as for example, a sapphire wafer. Typically, the wafer is maintained at a temperature on the order of 500-1100° C. during deposition of gallium nitride and related compounds.
Composite devices can be fabricated by depositing numerous layers in succession on the surface of the wafer under slightly different reaction conditions, as for example, additions of other group III or group V elements to vary the crystal structure and bandgap of the semiconductor. For example, in a gallium nitride based semiconductor, indium, aluminum or both can be used in varying proportion to vary the bandgap of the semiconductor. Also, p-type or n-type dopants can be added to control the conductivity of each layer. After all of the semiconductor layers have been formed and, typically, after appropriate electric contacts have been applied, the wafer is cut into individual devices. Devices such as light-emitting diodes (“LEDs”), lasers, and other electronic and optoelectronic devices can be fabricated in this way.
In a typical chemical vapor deposition process, numerous wafers are held on a component commonly referred to as a wafer carrier so that a top surface of each wafer is exposed at the top surface of the wafer carrier. The wafer carrier is then placed into a reaction chamber and maintained at the desired temperature while the gas mixture flows over the surface of the wafer carrier. It is important to maintain uniform conditions at all points on the top surfaces of the various wafers on the carrier during the process. Minor variations in composition of the reactive gases and in the temperature of the wafer surfaces cause undesired variations in the properties of the resulting semiconductor devices.
For example, if a gallium indium nitride layer is deposited, variations in wafer surface temperature or concentrations of reactive gasses will cause variations in the composition and bandgap of the deposited layer. Because indium has a relatively high vapor pressure, the deposited layer will have a lower proportion of indium and a greater bandgap in those regions of the wafer where the surface temperature is higher. If the deposited layer is an active, light-emitting layer of an LED structure, the emission wavelength of the LEDs formed from the wafer will also vary. Thus, considerable effort has been devoted in the art heretofore towards maintaining uniform conditions.
One type of CVD apparatus which has been widely accepted in the industry uses a wafer carrier in the form of a large disc with numerous wafer-holding regions, each adapted to hold one wafer. The wafer carrier is supported on a spindle within the reaction chamber so that the top surface of the wafer carrier having the exposed surfaces of the wafers faces upwardly toward a gas distribution element. While the spindle is rotated, the gas is directed downwardly onto the top surface of the wafer carrier and flows across the top surface toward the periphery of the wafer carrier. The used gas is evacuated from the reaction chamber through exhaust ports disposed below the wafer carrier and distributed around the axis of the spindle, typically near the periphery of the chamber.
The wafer carrier is maintained at the desired elevated temperature by heating elements, typically electrical resistive heating elements disposed below the bottom surface of the wafer carrier. These heating elements are maintained at a temperature above the desired temperature of the wafer surfaces, whereas the gas distribution element typically is maintained at a temperature well below the desired reaction temperature so as to prevent premature reaction of the gases. Therefore, heat is transferred from the heating elements to the bottom surface of the wafer carrier and flows upwardly through the wafer carrier to the individual wafers.
In a conventional wafer treatment process, such as a chemical vapor deposition process or another operation using a rotating disc reactor for another purpose such as etching, the process temperature in the reaction chamber can measured by one or more non-contact pyrometers that are adapted to measure the temperature of the wafer carrier and/or the wafers during processing. Such temperature measurements can be used as an input to help determine the control of the heating elements during processing of the wafers.
It is important to be able to determine the temperature of the wafers in a CVD reactor during wafer treatment cycles. High pyrometer repeatability across different CVD reactors can allow for the use of a single CVD process recipe across multiple reactors, greatly reducing production downtime that can occur if individual reactors have to be extensively tuned to produce consistent wafer characteristics among the reactors. A critical component of CVD reactor pyrometer repeatability is temperature-matching across multiple reactors, due to the high sensitivity of characteristics of the devices made in CVD reactors to the temperatures used in the CVD process. For example, where the devices made in the reactors are lasers or LEDs that include multiple quantum wells (“MQWs”), the wavelengths emitted by the MQWs are highly sensitive to the temperatures used in the CVD process. Consequently, it is necessary that pyrometers across multiple reactors bring the wafers in these reactors to the same wafer process temperatures.
However, it is typical to see a variation in measured temperatures across multiple pyrometers in a reactor or a facility, and even across multiple wafers in a single reactor. Even after calibration, pyrometers can have a spread of +/−3° C. due to variation in calibration of these black body furnaces, as well as instability and drift of the furnace over time, such that the actual temperature of the wafer carrier and the in-process wafers can become uncertain. Additional sources of pyrometer measured temperature variation can include variable installation of the pyrometers on the reactor, which can affect the pyrometer temperature reading, and drift of the pyrometer temperature reading output over time. Such measured temperature variations can make it difficult to use universal temperature control recipes on multiple MOCVD reactors, or even from process run to process run in the same reactor, and the resulting uncertainty may require individual reactor system tuning to bring multiple reactors to same temperature control behavior.
Although considerable effort has been devoted in the art heretofore to optimization of such systems, still further improvement would be desirable. In particular, it would be desirable to provide a temperature measurement system that can more accurately control the temperature of the wafers in a reactor.